Saifun Semiconductors (SFUN)

[midastouch017]

8:16am 12/09/05
Chip industry on record pace in 2005, study says By Steve Gelsi
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Worldwide semiconductor revenue will total $235 billion in 2005, a 6.9% increase from 2004, according to preliminary results from Gartner, Inc. This will be the first time that the semiconductor industry has surpassed the previous record-setting year in 2000 when revenue reached $223 billion. "Strong growth in the NAND flash market was a recurring theme in the 2005 market share rankings," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "The continuing strong demand for flash card and USB flash drives in 2005, along with the successful launch of the iPod shuffle by Apple at the start of 2005 and the release later in the year of the iPod nano, will drive this device market to the highest revenue performance in 2005."

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